Watch Friday Night Season 5 Episode 1 Expectations. Season premieres of "Friday Night Lights" feel a bit like the first day of school. There's a nervous tentativeness that hangs over the show. New characters are introduced, and one gets the sense that everyone is by and large on their best behavior. The drama is there, but it's on the periphery, having been tidied up only to have the residents of the fictional town of Dillon, Texas, muck it all up over the course of the season.
In terms of introductions, there's a bad girl named Epyck, who in Episode 1 is only alluded to, and there's the worn-out, happy-hour-organizing teacher, Laurel, who may or may not give our guidance counselor hero Tami Taylor (Connie Britton) some trouble. Then there's a basketball-playing newbie in Hastings Ruckle, a sharp young lad who has some tough words about those who play the sport that makes the world of "Friday Night Lights" go round.
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They're all a bunch of "toolbags," says Ruckle. Played by Grey Damon, who comes off as a cross between Robert Pattinson and "Friday Night Lights" mainstay Taylor Kitsch, Ruckle is the intelligent outsider, the one who declares that football "celebrates the worst insincts of American culture."
Naw, replies Kyle Chandler's Eric Taylor. Football celebrates "teamwork and character." Coach Taylor, as "FNL" fans know, is ever the optimist, as for four seasons, first on NBC and now on DirecTV, football has been the center of plenty of turmoil. The ol' game of pigskin has inspired looks at race relations, class warfare, academic funding and sexual politics. And here Ruckle thought it was just a bunch of X's and O's knocking the daylights out of each other.
Welcome back to the best game on TV, otherwise known as “Friday Night Lights.” It’s the last season for Tami and Coach Eric Taylor, and many of our regulars from past years are gone–graduated, moved to Chicago or in jail. So we have new characters, a semi-new school and a last grasp at a happy ending.
I purposely did not watch or read any of the recaps from when this season aired on cable. Please, no spoilers for those of us limited to network TV!
Even though it’s the first night of the season, our visit to Dillon is all about goodbyes. Buh-bye Julie Taylor! Buh-bye Landry Clark!
They’re all off to college. This week, the East Dillon Lions are headed to the football classic, Julie’s parents are all sad about her going to college, although they don’t really seem to be paying much attention to her as they’re both occupied with football and troublesome high school students. Tim Riggins is still in jail, taking the fall for his brother’s family. They have a family chat in the clink, and Tim is bitter, bitter.
Tami Taylor is the new guidance counselor at East Dillon and she’s already making friends and rubbing everyone the wrong way. She wants to call all the parents and tackle the at risk kids, particularly a difficult girl named Epyck. She wants the problems, she says. Bring it! Bring it on!
Billy Riggins wants to coach football with Coach Taylor because coach is a great manly man. The sucking up works and Billy’s in with the special teams. Landry, whose surprise kick led the Lions to victory last year, is still really a dork in a band but is leaving for Rice. Luke Cafferty (who got Becky pregnant and had a little drug problem last time) is back on the field. Becky’s mom is out of town and she and her step-mom aren’t getting along. Mostly because her step-mom hates her. Becky moves into Tim’s old room with his brother, Billy, his wife Mindy, and their new baby.
Vince Howard the QB is still dating Jess, but Jess’ dad is out of town and she’s taking care of her brothers. The babysitting is not going well, mostly because her teenage brother is acting like a complete teenage cliche. Vince tries to step in and make him feel better.
Buddy Garrity is still in the game, helping Coach Taylor recruit a new Lion – Hastings Ruckle, who really just want to play basketball.
Hastings’ dad really does not want him to play football, but a chant on the bus lures the boy in. Sitting outside the Alamo Freeze, Jackie sits back and. wait, sorry, I fell into a John Cougar Mellencamp moment there. Sitting outside the Alamo Freeze, Landry is all sad and waiting for an epic moment. So Julie takes him to a strip bar. Stripping, that’s epic. What do the FNL people think college parties are like, not that I would know, ever.
